Connecting Young Professionals and Businesses

Timeline

September 4 2018

NZ China Innovation Forum 2018

The NZ China Innovation Forum was our fourth event of the year and explored what it takes for Kiwi businesses to succeed in China through innovation. We were grateful to have another sold-out audience and inspirational presentations by our high profile guest speakers. Andrew Grant, leader of McKinsey’s Global Public Sector Practice, talked about the myths and realities of the NZ – China relationship. Kenneth Leong, co-founder of Healthy Breath, encouraged the audience to act fast and diligently on their innovative ideas to beat the giants. Lastly, Angus Brown, CEO of AlphaGen NZ, discussed the support networks and opportunities for Kiwi businesses going into China. The presentations were preceded and followed by networking over nibbles and drinks.

July 25 2018

Building Brands in China: Marketing to a Multi-Million Dollar Market

Hosted at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, we were grateful to have a sold-out audience and engaging guest speaker presentations at our third event of 2018. Olivia Shen, Head of International Marketing at Vodafone, outlined differences between Chinese consumers in China versus New Zealand and gave interesting case studies of previously-used strategies. Mike Arand, a NZTE Business Development Advisor for the China region, spoke about the success and failure of different SME-level businesses breaking into this market, and gave useful tips for how Kiwi brands can also start approaching China. A big takeaway from the two speakers was the complexity of consumer tastes and saturation of competition currently active within the Chinese market. The evening finished with networking over food, continuing conversations from the guest speaker presentations and forming new connections.

May 17 2018

She Did It Her Way: Stories of Kiwi-Asian Women in Business

A stellar sold-out event full of unique persepctives and new connections! This event was about female leadership and cultural diversity across a wide range of New Zealand industries. The panel session was moderated by award-winning theatre artist Alice Canton, and discussion topics included: the value of cultural and gender diversity, dealing with unfamiliar situations, and how to break through a “double glass ceiling”. The speaker panel was followed by networking over food, continuing conversations from the panel session and creating new relationships. We would like to thank our phenomenal speaker panel showcasing Kiwi-Asian leaders in their different fields: Evelyn Jones, Xana Tang, Deanna Yang, Sheila Ye and Franky Wang.

April 7 2018

Our 2018 launch event was about how to expand a startup from a one small good idea to global status. We were lucky to have inspiring entrepreneurs such as John Chow, John Holt and Iyia Liu share their personal experiences starting up their businesses and providing advice to our audience. Some key points included how to break into the startup scene, successfully grow an early-stage startup and establish yourself in the market. We also had speakers from DLA Piper and Zino Ventures provide business skills and advertise exciting entrepreneurial opportunities they have available. Overall the event was a great start to the year for the NZCTA YA and we look forwards to seeing you at our future events still to come.

November 13 2017

Quater Life Crisis? Explore a Career with China

This event was all about exploring a career with China and working with China from New Zealand. Speakers at the event included Jamie Omer, who told stories from working at the frontline in Changsha, and Patrick English who gave a focused presentation of his experiences with the country. It also saw the launch of our QLC Remote Internship programme, which is now successfully underway with 15 people working remotely for a variety of startups. Thanks to the New Zealand China Council for their sponsorship of this.

September 25 2017

NZCTA YA x NZSA Investment Forum: Buy a Piece of a Company

Our recent investment forum held in collaboration with the New Zealand Shareholder’s Association has been one of our biggest events. Held at Grid AKL, a panel of high profile experts including Mark Lister from Craigs Investment, Leighton Roberts from Sharesies and Daniel Kieser from Shareclarity were invited to discuss investment with varying perspectives. Topics covered ranged from the breakdown of different types of investment, unpacking common misconceptions and mistakes as well as a introduction to building an investment portfolio.

Top tips included starting investment as early as you can, the importance of diversification, not spending what you don’t have and using Sharesies!

August 15 2017

Branding for China in the Social Media Age

The YA recently held the “Branding in China” talk at DLA Piper, where a sold out audience heard about the current state of play for digital marketing in China. Speakers talked about China’s current digital eco-system, how Chinese consumers behave and the what those in the industry should look to prioritise when promoting their brands.

Highlights included Alex Qian from Leqee giving us his four key digital trends, and Nancy Liu from Ogilvy & Mather outlining the startling growth in traffic from mobile devices over the past 4 years.

May 22 2017

Spotlight on Comvita – YA Spotlight Series

Comvita has been a New Zealand – China success story. Since entering in 2004, they have grown their China business into over 400 stores; Asia now makes up over 30% of its revenue.

At the spotlight event, Comvita addressed the strategy they took to enter into China’s fast moving consumer goods market and detailed the challenges they faced and are facing. The event attracted key people within the industry and sparked some interesting discussions. Meanwhile, those not as embedded in the industry received complimentary Comvita lozenges to help out with the flu season!

Julie Chadwick shared her vast experience with investors and media relations in a presentation delivered with great humour. Following her, Ronnie Butt gave a sincere presentation about his knowledge of the Chinese market and shared some lessons from his decade in the country.

April 26 2017

The Chinese Millennial Generation: NZCTA Talks

NZCTA YA recently held the Chinese Millennial Generation talk. The talk addressed the largest growing consumer group in New Zealand tourism: the Chinese millennials. Industry speakers engaged with a bunch of attendees on various topics, discussing the preconceived notions of our tourism industry and how to remain relevant to changing tourist demographics.

Notable moments included Paul Yeo’s energetic presentation about the methods Tourism New Zealand use to target millennials, Mark Frood’s talk about his experience in China, Chris Ryan’s exploration of modern China’s culture and free lollies for all from Air New Zealand’s Chris Hughes.

April 1 2017

2017 Launch: NZ China Entrepreneurship Forum

A stella event with over 90 people attending. The Forum encompassed all parts of the start-up continuum from idea validation to growing the business.
​Connect and Engage How to break into the start-up scene as a young entrepreneurEmpower by Experience Experience sharing from successful entrepreneurs with China / Asia experienceDevelop in China If you have a China or Asia-savvy start-up business, how to you approach Angel Investors or VCs to fast-track growth?

February 1 2017

Investment Seminars with John Hawkins

NZCTA YA, in conjunction with NZ Shareholders Association, held a 4 Week Seminar on “How to Invest” with John Hawkins. These seminars have been a great, practical way to learn about investing in bonds, equities, and the property market whilst networking with others who are also interested in this.

Some insights we have gleaned are:
– Importance of understanding the company
– Cash is King
– Laddering is useful for fixed interest investing